Sidelines
by noticemepl0x
Summary: She was Marui's cousin and their coach. All she wanted was for boys to kiss kiss fall in love with each other, not her! CLEANING UP! NEW CHAPTER
1. Prologue

It was the National Quarterfinals in a next week. Marui woke up, went to the bathroom, gone downstairs to prepare breakfast for his brothers and dashed to school for practice. One of the first to be there, he happily munched on a pack of cupcakes.

"Marui!" Sanada yelled at him from across the courts. Startled, the young tensai dropped his delicious butterscotch cupcake atop his partner's head. Jackal grumbled in indignation and gave the greatest glare known to man. Marui smiled sheepishly and offered him a crumb. "Marui! 20 laps!" he heard and dropped yet another on his partner. Yukimura looked on in pity, poor Jackal didn't do anything to deserve such treatment.

"Marui…" Yukimura called out in his deceptively soft voice. "Did Sanada not just tell you to run?" Having realized his mistake, he ran like he was being hunted, in this case, by his fukubuchou, their slavedriver. And Yanagi calmly sat in the dark shadows, observing.

Niou laughed at his misfortune, until he was assigned laps too. Sanada stared at the trickster for a long hard minute. "Another 30 laps Niou" The trickster, confused, demanding to know what he did, "You exist, that's more than enough." And so, Niou was forced to run a total of 50 laps, on a Monday morning, at 7am.

"I'M HERE BUCHOU!"

"Tarundoru! You are late, again! 50 laps, NOW!" The devil of the courts jumped and ran. In the background, Yanagi and Yukimura conspired. Niou tried to listen in, he heard bits of words like, "Inui Juice," "Fuji," and "Team bonding."

Niou's eyes rolled into his head, the last time they had 'team bonding,' was when they were locked in an old freezer for a day. He and Yagyuu heard stories and rumours about the horrors at Seigaku, how they were all forced to drink Inui Juice and eat Fuji's cooking. Even over at Shitenhoji, Zaizen posted all about how their captain tried to drown them when they went camping. Zaizen was still upset.

Marui ran up to the fallen trickster, and prodded him with a foot. "Is he dead?"

"73.5% he thought of something traumatizing and blacked out"

"Oh my, someone take him to the Infirmary…"

Yagyuu simply picked his fallen comrade from the ground, "I will be back soon." With that, he walked towards the school and laid his friend to rest on the cot.

The nurse fussed over him. Niou looked like he was dying, pale and cold. He reached out for his friend. "I-I n-need…"

"What is it Niou?"

"A w-w…"

"A wallaby?" The poor dying man shook his head.

"W-w…" He stuttered again.

"Water?"

"W-wig…" Yagyuu stared at his dying partner, and gave him his wish, a brown wig, and a pair of glasses. Niou took them with a shaking hand, and slipped them on.

"Forgive me for the inconvenience, Yagyuu."

"Do not fret, Yagyuu. It was necessary. "

The nurse could have been watching a tennis match with how fast her eyes were going between them, Niou had just become Yagyuu. She didn't even know who was who anymore.

The bespectacled pair simultaneously glanced at their watch, practice was over, time for classes.

Marui stretched, after school practice was a pain sometimes. All he wanted was to go home, eat some good food, and sleep. But after Yukimura's operation over the summer, he was working them harder than ever.

He began to warm up with his partner-in-crime, until his phone rang. The familiar ringtone pierced through the air, his mom. Marui could've passed out when his captain grabbed the mobile and answered it. 'Would his mom tell him embarrassing things? Would she tell him all his secrets? Would she show him his baby pictures?!' he screamed internally. He let out a breath of relief when Yukimura passed him his phone with a big smile.

"Hey mum!"

"What?! This late into the school year?"

"Next week? With us?"

"Okay, what's their name then?"

"Yeah okay."

"Alright, she sounds fun, love you mum." He ended the call and shoved his phone back into his bag. Everyone looked on in interest. Yukimura approached the happy ball of bubblegum ingenuity, "What did she call you about?"

"Just about a cousin in Canada is coming to live with us."

"Is she hot?" Niou quipped.

"I don't know yet, mum's sending me a picture of her right now. I'm supposed to be picking her up."

"This is a rather interesting turn of events." Only the sound of a pencil scraping across paper was heard.

"Will she be coming here?" Yukimura asked.

"Most likely, she'll be living with me." Marui shrugged.

Sanada shook his head, if this girl was anything like Marui, she would be a handful. He could practically see bottles upon bottles of aspirin being purchased, maybe the cashier would think he was an addict. He felt a phantom hand on his shoulder and saw a Phantom-Tezuka sharing his stress with him. Perhaps a hiking trip with Tezuka was due, or a few cups of tea would be good for his sanity.

Yukimura chuckled at his old friend, he could practically sense what he was thinking. He was honestly such an old man sometimes, he could probably buy his own alcohol and not have to show his ID. The bluenette smiled and pulled out his phone, sending a text from his fellow sadist. 'Things have just gotten fun…" He chuckled to himself.

-A week later-

"Our plane will be landing soon, please have your seat belts buckled". The voice announced. A girl looked up sharply, just a few more minutes and she would be landing in Haneda Airport.

She walked down to the main entrance and saw a boy with glaringly bright red hair sitting on one of the benches, her cousin. She stood in front of him with a slight smile. Marui looked up, Niou was right, she was hot. Well… Niou didn't know she was hot… yet.

"Are you Marui Bunta?" She smiled.

"That's me! And you are Nakamura Tsuki!"

"Yes I am." Marui scanned her from head to toe. She was… alluring, one could say, seeing her picture versus the real thing were completely different things. Pale skin, pastel lavender hair (bizarre hair colours seemed to run in the family), smooth curves, small pink lips, and a pair of bright, sharp amethyst eyes. She looked so cute, he felt the instant need to hug her and spoil her, his little Tsu-Tsu.

They took the train back, he learned many things about her. She loved 'extreme sports' (Tennis is plenty extreme!), nature, books, and dancing. He also realized that loving sweets ran in the family too apparently, a piece of gum and they were practically best friends all ready. His mother would be proud that he was such a responsible young man taking care of his younger cousin.

Dinner was ready when they got home, the sweet diabetic aroma of sugar led the two towards the kitchen, but no dessert until after. The children of the Marui family could've cried, and the tensai did when he found out that his cute little cousin was older than him! Even if it was by a few months! February 17th, he would get her the greatest present of all time. He went to bed that night thinking about how his friends would react towards her.


	2. New Friends

The next day rolled in, Marui leaped out of bed to see his new best friend. She was downstairs cooking up a storm for him and the twins. A scramble to start the day with avocado toast and bacon. Western style food was always odd to him, why would anyone ever want to put eggs on toast? Or that green stuff…

They walked to school together, a quiet adventure, but an adventure no less. As they walked by plants, she named them one by one, what they could be used for and what insects lived where.

Arriving at the building, they parted their ways: one making their way to the school and the other towards the sound of abused tennis balls. She walked along the hallways getting lost every now and then trying to find the Reception Office. Finally making it to her destination, a young lady sat there.

"How may I help you?"

"I'm the new transfer student, my name is Nakamura Tsuki. I need my schedule." She asked softly.

The receptionist smiled at her and shuffled through a folder, "Here it is." Tsuki looked at her schedule, English first thing today in class 3-A.

* * *

"So you have a hot cousin…" Niou smirked.

"Yeah…"

"Ooh! Ooh! What's her name?" Chimed the Devil with a big smile.

"Can I hit on her?"

"I doubt she'll fall for someone like you." huffed Marui

"Yeah! Yeah!"

"I'm hurt, I thought we had something special." The trickster joked with a hand against his heart. The faint sound of a text interrupted. Niou and Kirihara leaned in, hoping to get the latest scoop.

 **Tsu-Tsu: How do I get to the courts from the Reception Office?**

"Tsu-Tsu huh, that's pretty cute." "Shut up Akaya!"

 **Bun-Bun: After you leave the school, turn left and keep walking.**

 **Tsu-Tsu: Thank you! :)**

Marui could have died happy, he would treat her to ice cre- "30 LAPS MARUI!" Trust Sanada to ruin his good mood, hopefully Yukimura would let her stay and watch.

Tsuki could practically hear her cousin screaming, she turned the corner and there it was in all it's glory, the tennis courts. She quietly opened the gate to let herself in, she instantly had the attention of everyone in the vicinity. Her cousin was running laps, his face lifted when his eyes landed on her, she gave a little wave. He swung his arms enthusiastically, everyone stared, and mumbled amongst themselves.

The captain, or at least she thought he was the captain, had an air of authority clouding him. He walked with grace, his jersey billowing behind him, a smile on his soft face.

"Hello there, you must be Marui's cousin. Yukimura Seiichii, yoroshiku" He greeted.

She awkwardly bowed. "Nakamura Tsuki. Yoroshiku…" Yukimura simply gave a smile, and invited her to sit in. Unable to refuse the offer, she accepted.

She sat on the coach's bench stiffly. Marui strode up and hugged her, but it wasn't him. He was a slight inch too tall, too lean, shoulders too wide.

"Who are you?" She narrowed her eyes at her 'cousin'.

"What do you mean Tsu-Tsu?!" 'Marui' cried.

She looked at him from head to toe. "You're half an inch too tall, your chest caves differently, and you're hugging from the wrong side of my body." The lone girl said emotionlessly.

'Marui' smirked, a smile that looked so wrong on his face in so many ways. Right before her eyes, he became another person.

"Niou Masaharu at your service! Puri!" The impersonator drawled out. A delicate eyebrow went up,

 _'What the hell is a 'puri?_ ' Her inward dilemma was interrupted by a long arm being draped across her shoulders.

"I think we'll be great friends, hime-chan." She stared at him, "That's nice…"

Yukimura just so happened to have his phone out, and just so happened to be recording the whole thing. Niou looked down at the short girl, "Do you feel this connection between us?" He gestured.

"You know what I'm feeling right now?" Niou leaned in, eager to hear her answer, "I feel extremely uncomfortable." She deadpanned. Tsuki could feel all the stares directed towards her. Niou eventually let her go when Sanada threatened him with more laps.

She observed the regulars as they practiced, the smooth ripples of their muscles, the placement of their feet relative to their hips, the way they slammed their racquet into the poor ball.

"If you turn your chest to the side more, you'll put less stress on your body." She directed towards Yagyuu. The boy in question tried it out and found that she was right.

"Thank you for the suggestion."

Throughout practice, she gave hints to the way their bodies should be moved. Her keen eyes and her knowledge of anatomy and physiology made it easier on the boys developing bodies.

"Ne, how do you know all this, Nakamura-san?" Yukimura inquired

"Just Tsuki is fine, but my parents are physiotherapists in Canada."

"You are truly interesting Tsuki-chan, how would you like to come with us to the Quarterfinals?" He smiled, not exactly giving her a choice.

"Are you sure you want me to come? I wouldn't want to be a burden…" She mumbled. She felt cowed by this boy for some inexplicable reason.

He simply smiled, as if there was something interesting in what she said. "Of course not! Right guys?" He turned to his minio-friends and smiled as hard as he could. Varying reactions to his 'beautiful smile' were… fascinating to say the least. Ranging from pale faces furiously nodding to curiosity.

"See? They don't mind." Tsuki just sweatdropped and Yanagi simply scratched down a quick profile of her. 


	3. Interrogations and Lunch

A piercing ringing broke silence. A pale hand reached over and slammed the metal contraption as hard as it could. It did not shut up. The hand reached over once again and chucked the poor alarm clock at the wall, it laid silent.

The bed's occupant sluggishly moved towards the bathroom, her hair a mess. She took a good look in the mirror, _'I think I need gum…'_

Regardless of her current appearance, she fixed herself up and made her way downstairs to make breakfast. She checked her watch, her cousin's tournament was soon. She decided to make him and the regulars bentos.

The lady of the house began to stuff her cousin's bento box with tons of nutritious things: like candy, cupcakes, and chocolate. The regulars bentos were different, filled with 'actual' food. Food that they'd need after a match, definitely not her cousin's diet.

Marui jumped out of bed that morning, excited for the day. His little cousin would be watching him today! He changed quickly and began to pack his bag. Gum, his tennis uniform, gum, towel, water bottle and tons of chocolate! Satisfied with everything, he brought his bag and tennis bag with him downstairs.

He could smell his Tsu-Tsu's cooking already! Running down the rest of the stairs, he nearly tripped, if it weren't for the conveniently placed chair in front of him, then he might've knocked himself out.

"Good morning, Bunta." Came the soft voice of his favourite person. Marui squealed and ran to her.

"You called me Bunta!" She smiled softly.

"Of course, I couldn't just keep calling you 'Marui', now could I?"

Filled with happiness and joy, he glanced over at the stack of bentos on the counter questioningly. "Are those for the team?"

"Yeah, the red one is yours." She pointed out. Eager to see what was in his lunch, he ripped the lid off and saw all his favourite food, his eyes practically shined in happiness.

"This day just couldn't get any better…" He sighed dreamily.

"It will after breakfast." Marui just squealed.

The pair walked together, excited. "I can't believe you're coming to watch us!" Flailed the tensai.

"I can't believe Yukimura-san actually let me come…" She mumbled.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing…" Her cousin pouted.

"Tell me!" He whined. He did that for the rest of the way.

* * *

 **Yukimura had his phone out, texting his best sadist about today. He heard squabbling and looked over, Marui and his cousin. They made quite the pair, polar opposites you could say.**

 **"I'M HERE BUCHOU!"**

 **Yukimura simply got up from where he was perched. "Alright, we have everybody! Everyone on the bus!" One by one, they filed into the iconic yellow and black bus.**

 **Tsuki, one of the last to get on, found two empty seats open. One next to Yanagi, and the other next to Niou. She chose the least annoying of the two. Walking up to the data master, she gave him the silent question, he simply brought his feet in for her to pass.**

 **Yanagi studied her, she was quiet, a complete opposite from their resident 'tensai'.**

"When's your birthday Nakamura-san?" He bluntly asked. The girl simply tilted her head in confusion,

"February 17th, why?"

"I am creating a profile on you." She just nodded her head in interest.

"Go on."

The data master did a double-take, no one ever voluntarily answered his questions. He could've cried, instead he coughed. "Alright, what are your interests?"

"Reading psychological thrillers, extreme sports, nature and dance." He furiously wrote them down.

"What kind of dance do you like?"

"I'm a _big_ fan of both hip-hop and ballroom."

"Music?" The girl seemed to perk at this

"Oh I love music!" She exclaimed, "I play the cello and piano, and I love listening to heavy metal and opera! Nothing gets me up more in the morning than someone screaming!" Yanagi somehow managed to stifle his laughs. The questions went on to her liking of 'extreme sports'.

"Nakamura-san, please specify the meaning of 'extreme." She thought for a moment,

"Extreme sports are when there is a high chance of dying." She said just a tad bit too nonchalant.

"Well then…" he mumbled disbelievingly, "Which have you done?"

"Skydiving, bungee jumping, parkour," she paused minutely, "Hiking's pretty fun, um… ooh! BASE jumping and hang gliding!"

"... I see what you mean by potentially dying." The interrogation went on, neither notice the female's cousin glowering with jealousy.

 _'Tsu-Tsu should be sitting with me!'_ The tensai pouted to his partner who sweatdropped. Soon enough, the bus stopped announcing their arrival at the stadium. The team filed out, stretching their legs, and shrugging the knots out of their shoulders. Marui simply clung to his cousin.

As they walked to their designated change room, all passersby parted and scurried to make way for them. They were the reigning champions, the best of the best. More so now that their captain was back. Many took notice of the petite girl walking with them. Copious amounts of fangirls glared enviously while many boys stared came to a stop when the Hyotei captain blocked their path.

"Ahn? Who is this lovely lady?" He made a move to grab her hand until Marui put her behind him protectively.

"What are you doing Bunta?"

"Protecting you from him!"

"I don't need protecting."

"But you don't under-" " I think I need to protect you more than you need to protect me." Marui just cried while onlookers sweatdropped.

"Hello there. My name is Nakamura Tsuki, Marui's cousin." She stuck her hand out for him to shake. Atobe stared at the hand for a moment before he realized what she wanted.

"Ore-sama's name is Atobe Keigo. It's an honour, m'lady" Eyes were rolling, typical Atobe.

"Nice to meet you," she greeted, "Now if you'll excuse us, we must be on our way." With that she urged the team to keep walking and side-stepped a shellshocked Atobe.

Atobe had a mini breakdown, it was a major blow to his ego that 'a pretty girl could just, just ignore him, just like that! Him! The Atobe Keigo, multimillionaire, beautiful, sexy, handso-'

"Atobe." Oshitari cut him off,

"God dammit Oshitari, Ore-sama was just an internal monologue."

"I don't care."

"Well you should! Right Kabaji?"

"Usu."

* * *

The regulars were donned in the iconic 'bumblebee' black and yellow and marched their way to bleachers. All other teams sat watching them carefully, taking note of the girl with them.

One brave fellow walked straight up to the captain. "Yukimura, how are you? How's Yoko?"

"Fuji," the sadists shared a hug between themselves, "Yoko is doing just fine, she's growing great! What about Umi?"

"Just great! Thank you for her by the way."

"Don't worry about it! Trades are trades." The two continued conversing about plants, teammates, and books. Tsuki poked her head out from behind the feared captain.

"Hello there." She announced.

"Didn't know you were behind me Tsuki-chan." Smiled the blunette.

"Just call me Tsuki, will you?" she beseeched, "It's weird to be addressed just your first name your whole life and suddenly having people calling you with an add-on."

"Alright then… Tsu-Tsu." She stared, she wanted to protest, but just gave up.

"That's cute, what about Tsu-hime?" The tensai pitched in. "That's even better!" His partner-in-crime agreed.

'Tsu-hime' sighed, "Whatever, anyways…" she drawled, "Heard you guys talking about plants! I personally love growing ctenanthe and azaleas!" She continued rambling for what seemed like forever, Yukimura and Fuji simply listened.

"Oh I'm rambling, I'm so sorry!" The Seigaku tensai chuckled.

"Don't worry about it Tsu-hime, it was cute." She blushed hotly under his intense gaze.

"Attention all players, the first teams to play will be Rikkaidai vs Kabuto. The matches will be starting soon, please take your positions." And with that, they scattered to get ready for the first match of the day.

It was over so quick, just like that, the opposing team lost. Tsuki cringed every time she saw the opponent try so hard to score at least a single point, but the regulars were merciless. They took a lunch break, eating with other teams under a nearby tree. Tension was in the air, Rikkaidai, Seigaku, Hyotei, Shitenhoji, and Fudomine; all quarterfinalists.

She handed the Rikkai regulars the bentos she made for them, they poked at it to make sure nothing was poisonous and dug in. Tsuki began eating, she was happily enjoying her lunch until a foot prodded her shoulder. She snapped her eyes to the person next to her, Niou. "What?"

"I've no idea what you mean Tsu-Tsu." the offender protested. She glared harder, it looked like a pout.

"Don't make me take out my bubblewrap."

"Your what?" She responded by taking off her bag and pulling something out of it. Tsuki promptly slapped the trickster on the knee with it.

"Hey!" "Hush child." The other teams looked on in amusement as she slipped the bubble wrap back into her bag and returned to eating like nothing happened.

"What's that for?"

"There are a great many delicate items in my bag that I cannot afford to have damaged." She snooted.

Inui whipped out his notebook, "How would you like to try out my Inui Juice?" His glasses glinted with ominous intent. The girl reached out for it, thinking nothing of it, just a regular guy offering her juice on a sunny day.

The tennis players watched in morbid fascination as the girl downed the girl with no difficulty, nothing happened.

"I want to die…" the poor girl bit out with a straight face. The data masters scribble furiously while the sadists chuckle and the others just stare.

"How is it possible that she hasn't passed out from that disgusting juice that the Seigaku monster makes, but then again I guess the monster would really be Fuji. If she can somehow not die by drinking the juice, maybe she's actually related to Fuji or she could be a sadist like him. Maybe all sadists have the ability to enjoy Inui Juice, it'd make sense since Fuji is one of the only people known to not be affected by Inui Juice, maybe Yukimura can too. But that doesn't explain Tezuka, maybe it's because he is a literal rock? If I tried to run into him would I become crippled because he's solid? And then there's Shiraishi, he loves those 'health drinks' maybe he's implying Inui Juice? Inui does always say that his Juice will help you…." "Shinji!"

"Well… People consider me a 'masochist' because I like hurting myself, not in a bad way though. Just curious. I may or may not have drank laundry detergent at some point too, it doesn't even taste that bad if i'm being honest. I did however vomit stomach acid, don't recommend that. If Inui Juice supposedly not affect sadists, but that isn't possible, all human physiology is the same. Unless they are accustomed to 'interesting' food than it should affect them all the same."

"When was this?" Marui asked, bewildered. His cousin sure was wild.

"Like, this morning."

Everybody just stared, nobody ever wanted another Ibu. Shinji felt relieved that someone other than him could rant, maybe she'd get told to shut up too. She was soon introduced to everyone. Hyotei was filled with rich kids with great hair, Fudomine was where everyone had '90s emo hair.' Seigaku and Shitenhoji were a completely different, a whole different league of weirdness.

Shitenhoji was filled with people who were proud of what they liked, they had Buddha, a gay couple who probably weren't even gay, a sonic wannabe, a surfer dude, a cute kid, a poisonous plant specialist, and a guy who followed her blog. Talk about awkward. And then there's Seigaku, it honestly felt like a copy of Rikkai. Sadists, brick walls, data masters, mother hens, redheads, serious characters, and tricksters.

Their impromptu lunch get-together was done when it was time for match between Hyotei and Seigaku. Then came the awaited battle between Atobe and Echizen. A long grueling match of blood, sweat and tears. Pushing themselves beyond their limit and even more after that, Seigaku won, but at what cost? Hyotei's loss. They came so close to qualifying for the semifinals, only to have it ripped away. It was won fair and square, but it made her sad. She wanted to cry.

The Shitenhoji vs Fudomine matches did make her cry though. Singles 2, Tachibana vs Chitose, old friends. Chitose wins, he loudly proclaims that the only reason that he won was because Tachibana didn't aim for his weak side. It was like a twisted love story. Two lovers, pitted against each other in a friendly spar, only to have one of them leave injured. The other, as atonement, pushes everything away and they leave each other for good. As fate would have it, they meet again in the same way they did last time. Only with a different outcome, the injured lover becomes the victor.

Tsuki wiped tears away with Yagyuu's handkerchief, more than once had the regulars turned to her questioningly. "Everything alright?" The gentlemen asked.

"No! This is so sad! It's like seeing lovers being forced to fight each other!" The two 'lovers' in question turn to her confusedly. "Like two brothers who were driven apart!"

Tachibana and Chitose exchanged glances, the girl only cried harder. "Is there anything we can do to make you… not sad?" The Shitenhoji player asks?

"Yes!" she sobbed, "Hug! And maybe make out too." She mumbled the last part so that only Jackal could hear her, he looked at her with a strange smile. The old friends looked at each other lovingly, and they hugged. Tsuki only squealed and took numerous amounts of photos to add to her photo album.

Everybody marched out the gates of the stadium, excited for the final matches. "Looks like it's finally time to go back home." Marui mumbled tiredly.

"I guess so."

The last match was hard to watch. Echizen had lost his memories and was being put back on the courts so fast, and the possibility of him being traumatized of having his senses stolen from him. In the end, Echizen remembered and unlocked the final door, and became 'The Prince of Tennis.'

The look on Yukimura's face after he lost broke her heart. He felt like a failure, especially in Rikkai where losing was not an option. He wanted his team to hate him, begged them to slap him, wanted to step down from his position. Tsuki felt useless, just sitting on the benches, watching as people she knew fell to their knees in despair. She nodded to herself and gave the grieving captain a hug, he nuzzled into her neck, desperate for comfort.

She whispered words of sweet nothings, Yukimura let her go and marched up to where Seigaku were lifting their Prince and hesitantly congratulated them. Rikkai needed to know that tennis wasn't just about winning, but about the love of the game. 


	4. The Lone Female

_-Time Skip-_

Yukimura called everyone to meet at his house. Her cousin did not hesitate to drag her into a cab to his house the second that call ended.

Tsuki narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the modest-looking house. A simple two-storey building with a small balcony, and plants all around the windows. She didn't doubt that there were more in the backyard. The red headed cousin of hers bounded past the quaint little gate and rang the doorbell happily. They pair heard a struggle and yelps, until finally, the door opened to reveal a frazzled Kirihara. Apparently Yanagi dragged him so that he could actually not be the last to show up at a meeting.

It would seem that they were the last to arrive this time, Tsuki took the time to momentarily apologize for their tardiness, Sanada felt overwhelmed with the rapid amount of apologies that she was bombarding him with per second. Sanada sighed and looked over at the girl's cousin who decided to socialize and leave his cousin to apologize for him.

Yukimura cleared his throat softly, instantly grabbing the attention of everyone there, "Now that everybody's here, we can begin! I woke up this morning and checked the mailbox, and found this" he slapped an envelope down in front of everyone for emphasis, "addressed to me!"

The Rikkai regulars leaned in and carefully, terrified of Yukimura's wrath should they leave a single dent, opened it. Tsuki, taking the incentive, read the letter aloud.

The team listened carefully, by the end of it, they were positively shocked. An invitation to a traditionally high schooler tennis camp? Rikkai knew they were good, but good enough to be invited to go to a U-17 camp? They never thought it was possible.

Everybody gave varying forms of cheer, some screamed and quieted down after the Yukimura matriarch asked them to not be so loud, others clapped, and some just nodded their heads in silent pride.

The pair went home that night excited. The second their feet hit the ground inside their home, they raced upstairs to pack. They would be leaving in a few days. Tsuki packed more than she really needed, but hey, she was invited as their coach. Tsuki shoved trinkets that she had brought over from Canada and a _hefty_ amount of medical supplies. Yet with all that, the most important was her camera along with multiple memory cards and her photo album that she adored.

 _'This is going to be a great year…'_ The girl thought happily.

 _-A few days later-_

The team once again, hopped off the infamous 'bumblebee' bus and walked through the gates of the U-17 camp.

They came to see Seigaku arguing with Hyotei, something about 'plebs.' There appeared to be two high schoolers harassing the middle schoolers as a whole. As if anyone could harass Tezuka Kunimitsu. Tsuki was ready to show the high schoolers a piece of her mind until she felt a soft hand land on her shoulder.

"Tsu-hime, not right now. You should talk to the coaches, see what they want." She felt torn between listening to her captain's advice or to yell at the high schoolers, she chose the latter.

"Do you enjoy picking on people younger than you?" she asked softly, "There is a reason why they were invited, maybe you should try working on your sportsmanship." She bit out venomously.

"Ooh~ Who's this pretty girl? Wanna come hang with us? Bet you'd want to play with the big boys, eh?" high schooler #1 remarked as his eyes roamed her body and high schooler #2 put his arm around her. All the middle schoolers at that very moment felt an ominous air around the girl and took a step back. Many had learned to not mess with a woman (Niou). They all suddenly felt bad for the high schooler.

Tsuki looked up to high schooler #1 with her big innocent eyes, "How about you fucking go to hell?" she said in a soft voice before promptly punching him in the face, there was a loud crack before the high schooler fell to the ground with a thud, unconscious. His partner, looked on in horror before the girl's glare fell on him. He quickly let go and dragged his friend with him.

The middle schoolers looked on in morbid fascination, watching a petite girl sock a guy who had nearly two heads over her was incredible. Their eyes followed the lone female as she walked into the main courts where many high schoolers ogled her. They spoke in hushed whispers, they had seen what she had done to that high schooler.

"Ooh~ Lucky~" Came Sengoku's voice. Safe to say, he shut his mouth fairly quickly once her gaze, her cousin's gaze, and her team's gaze fell on him.

A brief announcement blared before tennis balls were falling out of the sky. Tsuki snagged one out of reflex, but dozens of balls bruised her body. Moments later, all middle schoolers had a ball, or a few dozen, leaving many high schoolers with none. Just then, Inui decided to create chaos by pointing at the last tennis ball rolling in front of them innocently.

All of the high schoolers rushed to steal it, friends against friends, you could trust no one. At that very moment, a rock flew towards the ball and it flew up. It landed right in the middle of the Prince's racquet, talk about a flashy entrance. The Prince was then toppled over by his teammates.

The remaining high schoolers whined about 'unfairness,' Tsuki snorted at that, she had experienced real 'unfairness' just by being a woman. Sasabe, who ended up being the voice of the high schoolers began yelling at them.

"Hora~! You middle school brats! Don't go picking up all those balls by yourself!"

"But Yuushi, the coach did say that if you didn't get a ball, you have to leave, right?"

"Gakuto, your voice is too loud…"

"Hahhah! That's too bad! Why don't you go home already!" The devil yelled back.

Once again, the announcement came for all players who didn't have ball, must leave immediately. Sasabe decided to challenge 'four-eyes.' There were tons of players with glasses, be more specific please. Inui once again, decided he didn't want to be caught in the chaos and turned around to take his glasses off.

Tezuka, ever the amazing person he was, stepped out first. It then became a battle between the meganes plus the fake (Oshitari). Everyone began to argue about which megane would beat the conceited high schooler to the ground until an arrogant voice called out from the opposite side of the net. Echizen stole Koharu's glasses, rendering said man blind.

Sasabe was insulted by the freshman that had enough sarcasm that Sasabe may never recover from. Another high schooler proceeded to push Sasabe back and decided to fight the freshman himself.

The high schooler, Matsudaira, hit his Magnum serve. It knocked the freshman's cap off. Matsudaira served again, this time Echizen returned it. The game went on as Matsudaira soon realized that the kid was copying him. Echizen eventually beat him with his own moves.

"Mada mada dane."

And so, Echizen had set the example for his fellow middle schoolers. People were being sent flying left and right. But Ootori, ever the saint gave a few of his balls to some high schoolers he pitied while his partner berated him for being a 'dweeb.'

After many a high schooler had been thoroughly humiliated, a gruff voice boomed from the top of the bleachers, this sent all high schoolers running. Kintarou complained of no worthy opponents until an effeminate voice called out. The high schooler explained to all the middle schoolers of the group system, 'shuffle matches.'

"Any questions?" The effeminate high schooler asked.

"Ooh ooh! Who are you and what courts are you on?" The lone female asked enthusiastically.

"Nearly forgot! Irie Kanata! Court 3!"

"Oni Juujirou… Court 5." Came the gruff high schooler.

And the last one, Kirihara tried to cling to him for a match. Kirihara's eyes widened when the tall high schoolers steely eyes turn to him. Kirihara found himself frozen in place, it was as if his captain had turned his yips on him.

Everyone, at that very moment agreed that the U-17 camp had more monsters than they expected. 


	5. Peer Pressure

She spoke with the coaches about what she could do. She wasn't a player, but she could be the on-site medic. She had just enough training and knowledge that she could patch just about anyone up in a jiffy! The coaches were also impressed with her sharp attention for detail.

"Ne Tsu-chan, do you want to make the stat charts?" Kurobe gruffly suggested.

"M-me? I'm not a coach, I couldn't possibly."

"Just do it." Tsuki huffed in defeat and sat in a chair overlooking videos for the next couple of hours.

"Everyone here is a mess." She angrily scratched down details on her charts, "Why can't anyone be a normal person with normal techniques?" she finally finished and began to march her way to the courts where doubles partners were already feeling the full weight of the loss of their partners

"Partner… Partner."

"S-Shishido-san!"

"I'll never forget you Oishi! You will forever be in my heart!" Tsuki joined her captain with a heavy sigh.

"Look at these poor children, losing the one they trust the most. It's a truly tragic story." She wiped a stray tear from her cheek as Yukimura looked on in amusement. They waved at a wild Fuji who came to join them.

"Saa, where have you been, Tsu-hime?"

"I've been in a dark, stuffy room since this morning to review tapes and analyse each and every aspect of every single player's abilities and convert them into a comprehensive chart." The sadists shared a look.

"Any suggestions for anyone?" she took a deep breath through her nose.

"Shiraishi-san needs to work out his right arm more to compensate for the sheer amount of muscle built on his left because of his gauntlet. I don't know if you could tell but, one shoulder is _much_ more muscular." the two thought about it, they could tell what she meant though, they had noticed that Shiraishi seemed to favour his left side.

"Uhh… Atobe's Tannhauser creates _massive_ strain on his arm and shoulder. If he doesn't modify it, then he _will_ end up with a permanent injury like Tezuka. And from what I can tell, his 'World of Ice' isn't exactly good for his psyche…"

"What do you mean? There's no way that a technique in tennis could possibly affect you mentally." Fuji reasoned.

"Well, from what I've heard is that Atobe is naturally gifted with God given eyesight," the boys nod at this. "The thing is, when ever he activates his 'x-ray vision', he is fracturing reality to warp into something that he can interpret. So really? It's not that vision is his gift, it's more like pinpoint accuracy." she thought for a moment, "I should actually probably be telling him instead of you guys." she turned to find the Atobe.

"I never thought that training to get better at tennis would have such consequences…" Yukimura observed.

"We should probably get around to talking to her soon about us."

"I agree."

* * *

After having a through discussion with Atobe and the issues with his tennis, he couldn't help but ask questions.

"How can Ore-sama lessen the amount of strain on my arm?"

"Well, I would suggest wearing an orthopedic sleeve, a different racquet tension or changing the way you transfer your weight." his aristocratic features scrunched at this.

"But how?" after getting his height and weight, she asked him to give her a swing.

"So the problem, is that you are not jumping high enough to compensate for the amount of momentum that you need to execute the serve properly. So either you start training to jump higher or you stay on the ground."

"What's the difference?"

"If you jump higher, it will be very easy to screw up on the timing and ha-"

"Ore-sama is a genius, he will not falter." he boasted, but she couldn't do much but roll her eyes.

"I wasn't finished. It will be easy to screw up the timing and because you are jumping higher, you will have less power. But if you stay on the ground, you will have less momentum and will require you to put more back into it to share and lessen the strain." Atobe thought about it for a long while.

"Ore-sama thanks you for the advice, princess. Ore-sama would like to reward you with a date with him."

"No thanks." And so, she walked off to the main building to settle into her new room. Room 103.

* * *

Her neighbours turned out to be a number of friendly high schoolers. The guys living next to her was the trio from the first day. They were really sweet, offering to help her move in. they each looked at the sheer amount of luggage that she had with her in question. They didn't really understand what she could have brought with her to a training camp. But hey, she was a girl! And girls had different priorities than guys. She _needed_ to bring her Hello Kitty themed Monopoly board!

"Ne, ne! We didn't even get your name!" the cheery one, Irie, cried.

"You can call me Tsuki! I'm going to be one of the assistant coaches and on-site physiotherapist for the camp!" The three boys could practically feel flowers coming off of her. Tokugawa was shaken out of his trance when his fingers felt cool glass.

' _Is this what I think this is?'_ He pulled out a bottle of whiskey. The room dropped with a deafening silence. Her eyes looking everywhere but them.

"... Can I have some?"

The two stoic boys looked at each other in disbelief, they came here to develop their tennis skills, not to party! By the time they had shared their mental thoughts with each other, Tsuki had already poured a glass for each of them. Irie was already on his third glass.

"Irie! What are you doing!" A flustered Oni yelled.

"Oh loosen up, wouldya? It's not you didn't smuggle in beer for us last year." Oni's face flushed pink.

"T-That was last year! She's not even in high school yet!" Tokugawa nodded. It didn't matter how much he wanted to get buzzed, she was too young.

"So? Kazu-chan over here was a firstie just last year and you let him sip."

"B-but we have training tomorrow!" Their resolve was crumbling by the second.

"I checked the schedule, we have an off day tomorrow." She added

That was fair, the two boys relented and joined them in the drinking.

* * *

"Where you going, Marui?" Gakuto asked.

"I'm going to find my Tsu-Tsu!" he grabbed his pillow hoping for a sleepover. "Room 103… 103… Here it is!" He banged on her door.

"Open up Tsu-Tsu! I know you're in there! It's me! Bun-Bun!" From inside, he could here crashing thuds, was she okay? The door finally opened and his jaw dropped in surprise when the high schooler that had scared off poor Akaya opened the door shirtless.

"What do you want." He bit out.

"N-nothing! I must have gotten the wrong room! I'm sorry!" He scurried off in fear back downstairs where he was eventually struck down by Akutsu's pillow.

* * *

"Who was that?" Tsuki groaned from her place on her bed.

"Some random kid." he answered, snuggling back into his previous position next to her.

"The Meiji Era began in 1868. This era was a transitional period to when Japan moved from being an archaic and isolated feudal society to adopting Western tradit-"

"Ne, Oni-san." "Hm?" "I really appreciate you knitting me mittens, I don't know what I'd do without you. You are my saviour."

"Hm."


End file.
